Job Offers and Onboarding: A Recruiter's Checklist
Close candidates, manage notice periods and make the first week count. Then prepare for HR interviews.
Making the offer
Before the written offer, call the candidate with the details: role, pay, joining date and next steps. Ask how they feel and whether anything could stop them joining, such as a counter offer. Send the written offer quickly after the call. Keep in touch during the notice period with short check-ins; silence is when candidates drift away.
The first week
Onboarding starts before day one. Make sure the laptop, accounts, buddy and first week plan are ready. On day one, welcome them, introduce the team and explain how work happens. Check in at the end of the first week and the first month. Early care improves retention.
- Equipment and accounts ready
- A buddy assigned
- First week plan
- Check-ins at week one and month one
Preparing for your own HR interview
When you apply for HR or recruiter roles, expect questions about sourcing, a mock screening call, how you would handle a candidate declining an offer, and how you keep data confidential. Prepare examples from internships, college placement work or any role where you organised people. Companies including XDQ Labs value candidates who can show a sourcing plan for a real open role.
Worked example: saving an offer
Ten days before joining, a candidate goes quiet. The recruiter calls, learns the current employer made a counter offer, and listens. She reminds the candidate of the growth path they discussed, arranges a short call with the future manager and the candidate joins on the planned date.
Common offer and onboarding mistakes
Most offer losses happen during the notice period. Stay close.
- Sending a written offer without a call
- No contact during the notice period
- An empty first day
- No check-in after the first week
- Call before sending the written offer.
- Keep in touch during the notice period.
- Prepare equipment, a buddy and a first week plan.
- Prepare sourcing and screening examples for HR interviews.
Write an offer call script, a notice period check-in plan and a first week onboarding checklist. Then prepare a sourcing plan for a real open role you could show in an HR interview.
Check your understanding
1. When do many offer losses happen?
2. What should be ready before day one?
3. What impresses in an HR interview?
Finished this course? Apply to XDQ Labs
We keep a talent pool for this field. Send your CV, mention the course and attach your best exercise. Completing a course does not guarantee a job.
From USD 49 or INR 2,999 a month. A person approves every step.
Templates from our playbooks
Copy ready templates with when to use each one and why it works.